Peter Kurz

Peter Kurz (born 1962) is a German politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany (SPD). He was the Lord mayor of Mannheim, the second-largest city in the German state of Baden-Württemberg from 4 August 2007 to 3 August 2023. Life Peter Kurz was born on November 6, 1962, in Mannheim, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. He attended the Tulla-Gymnasium in Mannheim. From 1983 to 1989, he studied law at the universities of Mannheim and Heidelberg and passed his first state examination in 1989. He then worked as a trainee lawyer in Mannheim (Amts- und Landgericht, Staatsanwaltschaft, Verwaltungsgerichtshof, Rechtsanwaltskanzlei), Speyer (Hochschule für Verwaltungswissenschaften), Heidelberg (Finanzamt) and San Diego (Rechtsanwaltskanzlei). In 1992, he passed his second state examination and became an assistant at the chair for civil law, commercial and business law at the University of Mannheim. In 1994 Peter Kurz became a judge at the Karlsruhe Administrative Court. A year later he received his doctorate. Until he was elected mayor for schools, culture, sports and swimming pools in 1999, he worked as a judge at the Karlsruhe Administrative Court. From 4 August 2007 to 3 August 2023, he was the Lord mayor of Mannheim. Peter Kurz is married and has two children. Political career Peter Kurz joined the SPD while still at school and became involved with Jusos, the party's working group for young people. From 1984 to 1989, he served as a member of the District Council of Schwetzingerstadt/Oststadt in Mannheim and thereafter, up to 1999, as a councillor in Mannheim and member of various supervisory boards. In 1985, Peter Kurz founded the association "Biotopia", which he managed up to the beginning of 1999. In early 1994, Peter Kurz assumed the chairmanship of the SPD parliamentary group in the municipal council, an office which he held up to 1999. He became a member of the SPD state executive board in Baden Wuerttemberg in 1995 (up to 2005). Peter Kurz assumed the office of full-time Deputy Mayor for Education, Culture and Sport in Mannheim in 1999. The decision to set up the first full-time primary school in Mannheim was passed during his period in the office of Deputy Mayor for Education. On 17 June 2007 he was elected to succeed Gerhard Widder (SPD) as mayor of the city. In 2010 Peter Kurz successfully campaigned for the retention of the Jobcenter.